Unit 67 - 3D Animation: Task 3 – 3D Gameplay Animation Research

Introduction

Animation is in every modern game even if it is as simple as a walking cycle; every game has some sort of animation. In this task I will be describing the different animations which you see in modern games and how they are created.

Game Play Animation Research

Animations require skill, creativity and a lot of time. There are a lot of different techniques on how you can create an animation. Today animation is usually created on computer software which can create almost everything including your animations environment, characters and more. Before this technique was used, animation used to be created by using several of different photographs or drawing sequences. Although this technique is not usually used anymore, animations in games and films usually use computers to create digital animations and then use a wide-range of techniques to either make 2D or 3D animations.

2D animations are a traditional animation method which has been existed since the 1800s, this technique is usually creating a sequence of images and each image is slightly different so when the sequence of images is combined it created an animation. When creating 2D animation you can use programs such as adobe Photoshop or anime studio debut to create ‘flat’ images.
Whilst 3D animation is a animation that needs a 3D software programme to create 3D images which usually have a lot more depth and makes the animation look a lot more relativistic because you can add lighting, shadows, physics etc which is difficult to do within a 2D animation. 3D animation is manipulating three dimensional objects by creating a 3D mesh in programs such as Blender, Unity and Light wave. These programs usually have a lot of features which allows the artist to create anything they want to model.

Animations in films are a lot different than the ones in games. When creating animation for a film you only need to include what the camera is able to see because the user isn’t able to turn the camera around the film unlike they can with a game. This means that when creating animation for a film they can almost ‘cheat’ and just create animation where the person can only see it which is a lot less time consuming than creating animation for a game. Games are interactive which means the player is able to control the game there self so if they wanted to move the camera and look around the environment they can. This means that the animation needs to look good from almost every angle, unlike in films where the animation is only focused in the camera view.
The animation within the game needs to look good from any sort of angle so usually an animation within a game is built up of different types of cycles. For example the player could have a walking cycle but will also need a breathing cycle or a standing cycle.If you are playing a shooting game then there will be animation whenever you character even does the simplest action such as aiming a gun, reloading a gun, crawling, crouching.
Each of these animations need to be perfect in every angle as possible, even the amount of time a animation takes needs to be considered. For example if you are reloading your gun you don’t want a animation which will take 10-15 minutes because it will take your character 10-15 to reload their gun which will frustrate players. Animation need to be as quick as possible but still ensure that the animation is benefiting the game.

Below I am going to include the different animation cycles which are used within 2D and 3D animation such as walking, running, jumping. I am also going to include videos of popular games which use these cycles. At the bottom of the page there will be a list of the references I have used.